NFL defensive backs aren’t the only people Patrick Mahomes wants to dominate in every way possible.
“I think the only thing he ever wanted to do growing up was to hit me,” he laughed Pat Mahomes Sr.the former Twins pitcher and father of the Chiefs’ two-time league and Super Bowl-winning MVP.
“And I never let him win as a kid. He had to earn it.”
The elder Mahomes arrived in the Twin Cities on Thursday and will be at US Bank Stadium when his son plays for the first time against the Vikings on Sunday. Pat was in his fourth of five years with the Twins when Patrick was born on September 17, 1995 in Tyler, Texas.
Both grew up in Texas as three-sport stars in baseball, basketball and football. Pat knew that at age 6, Patrick had a professional arm in the making: He fielded a grounder at shortstop and threw the ball so hard that the first baseman’s glasses broke.
“I thought he was going to be a pitcher, and in fact, early on, football was his third-best sport,” Pat said. “It was the last sport he took up. It wasn’t until his junior year when he fell in love with playing under the Friday night lights in Texas that he showed what he could do on the football field.”
Father and son were constantly competing. Pat once told Patrick that he threw 93 miles per hour as a high school senior. Patrick shrugged it off and boosted his fastball to 96 mph his senior year.
“Yeah, but I graduated when I was 17,” Pat said. “Patrick was 18, almost 19. I was throwing 100 miles an hour at that age.”
The competitive duo chose a fourth sport to compete in: golf.
“The first time he beat me at anything was three years ago,” Pat said. “We were at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. I shot an 82. Patrick shot a 79. He never let me forget it either. And he’s been beating me on the golf course ever since. I just haven’t been able to beat him in the last three years.”
Udeze to sound the horn
Former Vikings defensive end Kenechi UdezeThe 2004 first-round draft pick, whose NFL career was cut short by leukemia, will sound the Gjallarhorn before Sunday’s game as part of Cancer Awareness Month.
Udeze played from 2004 to 2007 before receiving his diagnosis in February 2008. He tried to return in 2009 but had to give up. He has since coached, primarily at the collegiate level.
Udeze played with the Tennessee Titans in 2021, but suffered a foot injury in a practice drill that required surgery and an eight-month recovery period. He is now a defensive analyst at the University of Houston.
“I had so many things I wanted to achieve in football,” Udeze said. “The next thing you know, someone is shaking up your world and basically setting your world on fire. When you walk into a hospital in Meridian, Idaho, and they tell you you have blood cancer, it’s disbelief.”
Udeze struggles with what could have been on the field, but quickly refocuses on how healthy he is at 40.
“I’ve been cancer-free for 15 years,” he said. “I just celebrated my anniversary. On July 16, 2008, I received my bone marrow transplant from my brother Thomas Barnes. He will be with me on Sunday. I can’t wait to see the Vikings fans.”
Bradbury returns on Sunday
Trainer Kevin O’Connell Center said Garrett Bradbury will return to the starting lineup after missing seven snaps in the season opener with a back injury.
Friday’s injury report listed safety as questionable Lewis Cinemaoutside linebacker Marcus DavenportLinebackers Brian Asamoah II and quarterback Nick Mullens. If Mullens can’t play, rookie Jaren Hall will make a backup Kirk Cousins.
O’Connell also said guards Ezra Cleveland And Ed Ingram will continue as starters.